The Lions

This year at school Brayden has been loving playing soccer at school during their nutritional breaks. There were a couple of problems with some of the boys getting too competitive and so the teachers had to put an end to it for a while to calm things down so we thought we'd enrol Brayd in a soccer league for the spring to keep him busy and let him do something he seems to enjoy. He was pretty pumped about it and when we got the call to let us know what team he'd be on and that The Lions were orange his excitement only increased. The season has started and he's starting to get a feel for what actually goes on in a game and what the actual rules are and he's really enjoying it. He plays a couple times a week and we all go to watch and cheer him on and he loves that he has fans. Whenever he makes a great pass or save he looks over at us with a great big grin on that freckled face of his. I love it! I hope he's always as excited to share his successes with us!

Natures Finest

With the sun shining we headed up to North Vancouver following the coastal road past some amazing homes and into a nice little forest area with paths and hikes to different areas and views. As soon as we got out of the van and stepped into the tree covered parking area you could smell the forrest. That nice crisp air with the scent of pine and moss. Nothing can beat that, it just smells so clean it's energizing. It's almost impossible to remember you're in a city as big as Vancouver when every where you look are these vibrant shades of green and trees even blocking the sky. Such an escape. So down the paths we went until we reached the looking point for the lighthouse:

Once we were satisfied with our view we turned around and slowly made our way back to the parking lot but this time taking the path less travelled. We were able to come across a few little meadows where the sun would find it's way through the trees lighting up the green and making it more vibrant somehow. It was quiet, peaceful and the kids could run around undisturbed playing and giggling, goofing around with Matthew and Auntie Kait.

At one point we made it to a meadow that had a theatre set up in the middle of it with a screen and rows of seats layed out for people to sit on. The grass was soft and neon with the spring growth and still damp from the rain during the week. It was so pretty and the perfect little hideaway. We sat for a few minutes before moving back to the main path where the kids would randomly jump out of their hiding spots in the trees in an attempt to scare us and then continue on ahead giggling with anticipation of hiding all over again.

After Lighthouse View Park we briefly stopped at Stanely Park so the kids could play at the park before Kait and Matthew spoiled us with a steak dinner. It always amazes me that here I am standing in the middle of the forrest, breathing in the smell of pine, joggers and bicyclers passing by and then right there is this massive city sky line. It's impossible to imagine the busy city and corporate world is just beyond the bridge when we are standing in something so peaceful and natural. I love Vancouver. I love the different cultures, the tall buildings, the nature, the incorporation of the Haida and the ocean. Living there would be a different story, but to visit ... I love it.

Magicians and Pirates

Saturday morning with no one having to work we were set to have a nice busy day together outside. The day started out overcast so we decided to start at Granville Island where we could visit some shops inside and do more of the outside type stuff in the afternoon after the clouds had burnt off. We walked around the kids market and found a couple gems like Bacon Strip band-aids and pirate wench costumes but left empty handed. We then made our way along to the market to possibly buy a couple things for a picnic lunch. As soon as we walked in "bam" magician entertaining. He was, um, a little odd. At one point I think he might have gotten a little stern with one of the little boys helping him out but nothing that provided me more with a little extra entertainment. The kids were into it enough but when we decided it was time to move on they didn't seem disappointed about it. We continued on our way and passed by amazing bread shops, fresh veg and herbs, sweet shops and then these amazing fruit stands.

While living in the Philippines Ryan would often stop at the fruit stand on his way home from work in the morning bringing home fresh Rambutan (pink with the green fuzz stuff) which are somewhat like white grapes when peeled, mangosteen (sour/sweet fruit with a hard purple shell and green stem) that we always thought the insides looked like a white orange or lychee. These were all seasonal fruit that we loved and became favourites with all 5 of us. So when we walked past a fruit stand in the Granville Island market to find all three it made my mouth water!

After walking through the market, being tempted by fresh breads, aroma's of simmering caramels, and colourful fruit stands and leaving empty handed we thought it would be a good time for lunch. When my sister and I were younger and we lived in Burnaby we would frequent The White Spot as our fast food joint. We loved to get the pirate packs which was the equivalent of a happy meal but came in a cardboard pirate ship with a gold coin chocolate as treasure! They were awesome. We would then go to my Nana's apartment and sink them in the swimming pool. The White Spot has this sauce they put on their burgers, Triple 'O Sauce, and it's pretty amazing. I love it. I double it on my burgers because you can never have too much sauce, right? So as a treat whenever we're in Vancouver/Victoria we stop at the White Spot for a trip down memory lane for me and to get my Triple 'O sauce fix. So that was lunch and the kids loved their pirate ships just as much as I remember Kait and I did.

Play Time

After our day of good food it was time to head back outside and run off some of that energy. Just down the road from Kait and Matthew's place was this great little park with a rec center, running track, big fields and playground for the community. It was outlined with these huge cherry tree's that were blossoming and a quiet community. The kids played around at the park for a while until the soccer ball came out and then Matthew, Ryan and Brayden picked up some random kid and had a game of adults against kids. The girls continued playing on their own while the boys had it out on the soccer field getting in that last bit of sunshine before we'd have to head back to the hotel and crash. So while the kids played I sat back enjoying the huge smiles plastered on my families faces and soaked it all in.

Token Trip to Lonsdale Quay

I think that as a kid finding out that today you get to go on a train, a boat AND all without having to wear a seatbelt would be the most fantastic news ever. Heck, it's pretty awesome for me now and I'm 31. One thing I have to do every single time I'm in Vancouver is make a trip up to Lonsdale Quay so I can sink my teeth into a Beaver Tail. It's kind of a pain just for a snack but for me it's totally worth it and since Ryan is such a great sport and fab husband he goes along for the ride so off we headed Friday morning to North Van via sky train and sea bus and of course we had to sit right in the front of the boat so we could see exactly where we were going. As the sea bus slowed down to dock at the Quay poor Maddy started to get really nervous thinking we were going to crash and started whimpering. Finally after the boat stopped moving and the doors opened she realized we were safely docked and she celebrated with a big smile and an excited "mommy! We didn't crash, we didn't crash" and off she ran.

Once we got off the sea bus and onto solid ground the sun was out and warming the dock on the Quay so we walked around outside admiring all the boats and the great view of the city. The kids splashed their hands around in the fountain, threw in some change to make a wish and looked down the railings into the water. They counted the tugboats that were docked along the side of walkway that lines all the little shops inside the Quay while running up and down. There was someone playing some instrument that sounded quite nice while trying to sell his CD's and other little trinkets that of course tempted little fingers. We slowly made our way inside to see what the market would offer us today and we checked out the big fish for sale, the octopus and different fruits and vegtables before heading upstairs to check out some more of the little shops and to let the kids play in the inside park.

Once the kids had some fun hiding in the ball pit it was time for the best part of Lonsdale Quay ... Beaver Tails. I guess I have this big weakness for fried bread but no matter how many times I try to duplicate making beaver tails at home they just aren't as good. Since sharing one was out of the question Brayden, Sydney, Kait and I ordered our snack and watched anxiously as the girl flattened the dough, cooked it in the fryer and topped it with deliciousness. Brayd, Kait and I got the classic cinnamon, sugar and a squeeze of lemon while Sydney opted for something a little more dessert like: icing and oreo cookies! We then took our 'snack' outside onto the patio part of the dock and sat in the warm sunshine and chowed down our Beaver Tails. There is nothing like these fleeting moments of enjoyment where everyone is quiet and happy, sitting in the warm windless sunshine breathing in that fresh air. I love Lethbridge but I really do love taking a break, especially from the wind that sometimes is absolutely relentless. And so after our late morning snack we hopped back into the city to get ourselves some lunch of freshly fried Fish and Chips from Cockney King's, the fish and chip restaurant we would go to as a family with my Nana and Papa when I was growing up. If you've never been, it's 100% a must. Seriously, it's so good!

You Have Arrived At Your Destination

We arrived in Vancouver before lunchtime and check in time. We decided to take a chance with the hotel and see if they'd put us in our room even though we were early. It was perfect! I had rented the room using priceline.com so although we got an amazing price on our room we weren't really able to specify that we needed more then one bed. The kids are used to making due with what we have after our many travels around Southeast Asia I wasn't too worried about it. When we checked in the nice guy at the front desk saw that we three hyper kids and so upgraded us to a suite for free! Not only did we have enough beds but I love having our own bedroom so yay for us and thanks to the Hilton for starting our vacation of perfectly. We hung out in the room for a little bit to veg after the long drive and then headed to the mall across the street for some lunch and waste time until Auntie Kait was off work and could come play with us. She lives about 10/15 minutes from the hotel so after arriving to meet us we took off to her apartment for a nice home made dinner and a place to relax and stretch out our bodies in.

Brayden immediately gravitated towards Matthews guitars and picked at them a little bit until Matthew sat down with Brayden and got him set up to do some jamming.

It was so great to get there, to eat a real meal (thanks Matthew and Kait), and just watch the kids have an absolute time with people they miss and love. Yay for vacations.

Westward Bound

What's the perfect remedy to a bunch of people feeling a little cabin fever? A few days out of town, that's what. Since school has started last September we've pretty much hung out in Lethbridge. I did go to Calgary one day for an hour to shop at Ikea and we've done a day trip or two down to Waterton but that's about it for the kids and I. Ryan has gone to the Philippines a few times and Florida for a work/motorbike trip but I'd like to think that there was something missing from those trips that didn't make them as fun as they could have been (more specifically, me). We decided that we needed to get out of town for a few days so that our sanity would stay in tact and give us that extra boost of energy to get through the last bit of cold days until spring officially sprung and the warmer weather starts making an appearance. We decided that we would take our chances with weather and go out to Vancouver and visit my sister and her boyfriend since we haven't seen them since Christmas and weren't sure when the next opportunity would come to see them again. So Wednesday after Ryan got home from work we all piled into the van and started the drive out west going through the States and visiting Seattle for the first time. We arrived in Seattle around 5:30am and got us some Krispy Kreme's right off the rollers, still hot and melt in your mouth delicious (and this from someone who doesn't like donuts). After filling our bellies with warm goodness, taking a potty break and splashing from fresh water on our faces we set out to explore what Seattle is like at the break of dawn. Well, Seattle at 6am is just like most places at 6am ... dead. We did hit Pike Place Market which was just starting to set up for the day so we got out and stretched our legs exploring a little.

There were a couple of people there setting up their stalls with beautiful fruit displays, colourful flowers and getting the ice ready for the fresh fish they anticipated selling that day. The visually appealing stalls reminded me a little of the stands set up on street corners in the Philippines with all the different types of fruits were perfectly stacked with an assortment of colours and options. The girls ran around enjoying the freedom from the van and letting out some pent up energy. I guess the bronzed pig is a famous spot at Pike Place Market so we had to check it out. I guess the only bummer of the pit stop was that because it was so early in the morning there wasn't anyone out buying fish so we didn't get to see the fish being thrown around and flying in the air but there is always next time, right!?

After our legs were sufficiently stretched we got back into the van and headed north to Canadian border and onward to Vancouver. With daylight upon us again we were able to enjoy the views filled with lush greens we have been missing in dry, brown Southern Alberta, creeks, mountains and mysterious fog. Blossoms were out on all the trees and it was so nice to see that although maybe spring hadn't hit Lethbridge yet, it was indeed on it's way. I loved it. The best part ... no rain, just sunshine!

Fairy Love and Our 6 Year Old

For her sixth birthday Sydney decided she wanted to go with a Fairy theme and we thought that renting the gymnasium at one of the local schools was going to be WAY more fun then cleaning the house top to bottom before and after a party! Sydney also had requested the use of Nana's gym for her party so it worked out perfect, especially with it being just across the street. Easy to pack up and load all the birthday supplies to the school for the part-ay. The only concern was our poor birthday girl was battling the flu and we weren't too sure if she was going to be able to make it puke free for the afternoon. We had a couple people attending the party who are immune sensitive so this is kind of a big deal and was kind of stressing me out after spending so much time into prepping her the perfect cake and getting the gym all booked. Thankfully she woke up birthday morning with a little more colour and although she was super quiet, not especially hungry, she was no longer puking! YAY. So we loaded our balloons (and lungs) with helium, put everything in the van and took the 10 second drive across the street and set up the gym.

Each of the girls got a set of Fairy wings and a little pixie skirt to wear for the party and everyone got a little pixie house to decorate so the Fairies around their houses would have a comfy place to live.

One of my favourite things to do for my kids on their birthday is to make their dream cake. I'm not too sure why since it causes a fair bit of stress and takes quite a bit of time but I really do love their reaction when they see the completed project. I remember some of the awesome cakes my mom would decorate for my birthday and I want my kids to feel that same excitement and anticipation, definitely worth the time, and stress. It's nice that the kids are all at this age where they know to keep their fingers to themselves when it comes to decorating and can actually be quite the helpers when it comes to kneeding the colours evenly into the fondant and then rolling it out into a nice flat smooth surface. I had a few different ideas swirling around my head for Sydneys fairy cake but ended up with this:

After running, playing, colouring, eating and then running some more to burn of cake sugars it was time to go. The kids each got some candy and a little bit of their own pixie dust to, um, sprinkle around at their own houses.

So I'd like to take a minute to let Sydney know she has been 6 years of an amazing time, filled our hearts with the sound of her cute little giggles and won our hearts over time and time again with her perfect dimples. Those dark endless eyes continue to fill me with awe that you somehow belong to us and that you feel we are deserving of your endless displays of love and affection. Sydney Jean, you are 100% one of a kind and I wouldn't change one second of life with you! Happy birthday to my 6 year old and here's to hoping the next 6 years are just as filled with love, joy and excitment.

Monster Card

I've been trying to be more crafty lately and so I thought I'd use some of this new found motivation to make Braydens friends birthday card instead of buying one. Brayden thought it was pretty cool so hopefully his friend thought so too: